The one failing of survival manuals is readability. Remember how Lewis Carrol's Alice dried off? John Muir wrote of a night caught out in a storm. He had to call out to his companion just to confirm each was alive throughout the night. Yet he remarked on the incredible beauty of the storm itself. I promptly refitted my cold weather gear upon reading that chilling passage- during a California summer! CAMPING AND WOODCRAFT by Horace Kephart is a classic of common sense and readability. His Preface quotation of Richard Harding Davis on personal gear willl bring tears of laughter to Altoid tin debaters ;O) The works of his contemporary Nessmuk are a fun read also. The gear is dated, but paraphrasing Gandalf " I see by looking ahead, and looking behind me."